Jingle Bells
by Againstnormal
Summary: She couldn't leave him alone on Christmas, her conscience wouldn't let her. Her old sensei may be the respite from stress at work and warmth on this snowy Christmas Eve night that Sakura needs. And so does Kakashi. KAKASAKU lime T


"Goodnight Sakura! Merry Christmas!" Shizune called, wrapping a sweater around her neck and tying it tight against the cold Konoha winter weather.

"Merry Christmas Shizune, Have a good break," Sakura said, smiling, her pen poised to continue her work.

"Make sure you don't stay too late, I've heard we're supposed to get some nasty weather," Shizune called before heading out into the blowing wind.

Sakura looked back down at the page in front of her, and with a sigh, got back to work.

Later, Sakura still sat at the same desk, in the same position, squinting over the dusty tome that sat in front of her. Tsunade had asked her to copy out a recipe, but the book was handwritten and old. Everyone else had departed into the snowy weather for their Christmas Eve parties, but she wanted to get the last bit of work out of the way before leaving.

"_Last Christmas, I gave you my heart. The very next day you gave it away. This year, to save me the tears, I'll give it to someone special."_

She glanced over at the clock and out the window into the lightly snowing gray sky. It seemed to be roughly 5PM, which meant she had about two hours to work before heading home to get ready for the Hyuuga Christmas/Hinata's Birthday party.

_ "A face on a lover with a fire in his heart. A man undercover, but you tore me apart. Now I've found the real love, now I found... You'll never fool me again!"_

She just couldn't _concentrate _tonight.

Sakura snapped the radio to off, her hands coming to press on her temples. Immediately, the sounds of the Konoha Christmas Station 107.9 were replaced with the fiercely blowing wind outside of the Hokage Tower.

She took a deep breath through her nose and looked over at the radio in near apology. It wasn't the radio's fault this was such a tedious task.

Standing up and stretching her arms over her head was a task her body thanked her for. The ancient wooden swivel chair Tsunade had had brought up for her wasn't up to the task of being comfortable for hours on end of sitting in the same place.

Sakura walked over to the window, drawing her red knit wrap tighter around her at the chill. It looked like the storm was already starting to pick up.

Realizing the time, Sakura sat back down to complete her task.

At 7:37, Sakura rushed out the door of the Hokage tower, bundled up against the unusually bitter winter Konoha was having this season. She hurried down the streets filled with unmarked snow, trying not to feel bad her footprints marred the picturesque beauty Konoha had been made into.

Sakura rushed home to her apartment, climbing the 36 steps up to the third floor of the building. The elevator had been broken for quite some time, and no one had made any attempts to repair the damn thing, so those on the third to fifth floors felt the pain.

She pushed her key into the deadbolt, jiggling it a little bit to make it go in, before turning the nob and entering her apartment. She pulled off her scarf and coat before plopping her keys on the coffee table with a small jingle and inhaling with a smile.

She loved the smell of cinnamon, and the bag of cinnamon sticks she had left open from her morning tea were giving off an amazing smell.

She glanced over at her wall clock, but the clock hand wasn't moving. When had that happened? Sakura pushed her hand through her hair and sighed. She wouldn't know when that had happened, she'd been sleeping at the office lately to keep up with the paperwork.

Glancing over at her microwave instead she saw the glowing green numbers displaying 7:52. Her eyes widened and she hurried into the shower, discarding clothes in a trail behind her to the door of the bathroom.

The hot water washed over her shoulders, beating some of the tension out of them. Sleeping on the office couch wasn't helping her back. She might be a kunoichi, but that didn't mean she didn't deserve a nice comfy... soft... warm bed.

When Sakura stepped out of the shower, she wrapped a dark red towel around her, ringing out her hair before running a comb through it as she walked to her bedroom.

The place was a mess, as usual, but not as bad as it was when she had shared an apartment with Ino. Sakura had come to realize that calling her Ino-pig was an insult to the cleanliness of pigs. And at least pigs didn't try to give you dating advice.

Sakura rummaged through her closet, looking for something to wear. She'd promised herself she'd go shopping earlier in the week, but she just couldn't seem to get around it. Work had been busy, half of Konoha's population had fallen off their roof decorating with Christmas lights it seemed.

And with the paperwork, expecting to have a couple days off... Work had been hell.

Wear something dressy, but not formal, Hinata had said happily, as if she was giving Sakura a blessing instead of a curse. That ruled out the Chinese dress she had bought for Tsunade's inauguration three – or maybe it was five – years ago.

Sighing at her lack of formal clothing, she pushed to the back of the closet, snagging on a piece of Ino's clothing that she had gotten from her after the move, since it had been washed once and shrunk down to Sakura's level.

The "Itty Bitty Titty Committee" as Ino had so nicely put it. Red had always been more of Sakura's color anyway, she thought, brushing off the embarrassment that she wasn't nearly as well endowed as Ino.

The deep red turtleneck wasn't revealing, and if she added a bracelet, maybe she could even pass for dressed up with black pants. And festive too, with the red.

Sakura grinned to herself before grabbing her clothes out of the closet and getting dressed, grabbing a push-up bra for the hell of it. She could probably flirt a little with Kiba before the night was over, or maybe Genma would spike the eggnog again.

The clock turned to 8:34 as she checked it, heading out of her bedroom, dressed, brushed, and ready to go. She walked over to unplug the Christmas tree for the likely to be long night before she realized that there was still a lonely gift sitting in her "friends" pile.

She shut her eyes, calculating time. Did she have enough to run Kakashi's present over to him? Probably not. She wrapped her scarf around her neck and put on her coat as she thought.

But... she could always try to set a good example for him by doing something on time. Grabbing his present and the bag of supplies for the tea Hinata had asked her to make, she set off for the snow.

Once outside, she realized the weather had picked up. She shivered and pushed some chakra through her system to warm her up so she wouldn't get cold. Coats were just a formality to ninjas anyway.

Snowflakes now fell rapidly, landing in her hair and on her nose. Like a child, she stuck her tongue out slightly to catch one, waiting for one to melt.

It did and she smiled, tucking the present to Kakashi into the bag of ingredients for her special tea. Kakashi wouldn't care if his present smelled like oranges, cinnamon, roses, and honey surely. Those were the ingredients to a truly masculine smell.

She giggled at that. Kakashi couldn't be a man who smelled feminine. Thinking about it, Sakura decided that Kakashi probably smelled like Konoha. Clean, woodsy, and spicey. Just the right combination for a man she thought with a sigh... a man who wasn't your sensei of course.

Not that he felt like her sensei. She never got to saw him anymore, except when Tsunade forced him into the hospital to be treated.

The last time she'd seen him was at her jounin graduation, congratulating her on how well she'd done. He'd come late, as usual, but he'd _come._ Sakura didn't think the old pervert would ever know how much that one thing meant to her.

But if he didn't miss her, she didn't miss him.

She turned down the road she long remembered being the road to Kakashi's apartment, having to drag him out of bed for several important – and unimportant – missions.

She walked up the flight of stairs to his door and rapped on it. "Kakashi-sensei!" She called.

When he didn't answer immediately, she began to get worried. Maybe he wasn't even home, maybe he was at the Hyuuga's party. Or maybe he had company over, like a girlfriend. Did Kakashi-sensei even have a girlfriend? She couldn't quite wrap her head around the idea.

But oh jeez, maybe she was interrupting them during- She really couldn't think that. And Kakashi was her _sensei_! She wasn't supposed to be thinking that kind of thoughts about him at _all._

The door swung open and Kakashi said, "Hello Sakura." He said casually, as if his student showed up every Christmas Eve with bright red cheeks (from the cold, he assumed) with a wrapped gift and a big smile.

He was dressed in his everyday clothing, minus the flak jacket and shoes, leading her to believe he hadn't just been having wild crazy sex before coming out to see her. He would have been much more wrinkled then, she would think. And maybe his hair woul- Just stop thinking about it!

Gifts. Crap, that's what I forgot. Kakashi thought, scratching the back of his neck and smiling so that his eyes crinkled. He waved Sakura in, and she handed him his present.

She blushed as she handed it to him, turning a brighter red. "I didn't really know what else to get you, so..."

Kakashi pulled off the bow with curiosity. What could have gotten Sakura so flustered? She hadn't bought him the new Icha Icha had she? The newest was sitting on his shelf, already read and signed by the author.

Sakura put her coat on his empty coat rack and wrapped her scarf up, stuffing it into her right pocket.

When Kakashi opened the present, instead of the blue cover of Icha Icha High School, he saw a bottle of shampoo, a packet of fertilizer, and some instant coffee, his favorite kind, in dark evergreen green tissue paper.

"I'm sorry it's not much... you're very hard to shop for," She said, looking at the ground.

"So you're the one who's been sneaking into my house and taking care of ?" He asked of the fertilizer and nodding his head to his potted plant.

She nodded. "Well, when you're on extended missions... I don't want it to die on you after all this time," He smiled beneath his mask. She knew he always thought he was so sneaky with that "real" ninja mask, but no mask could hide his smile. Yet again her thoughts drifted to what he would look like without it.

She smiled back, hoping that was her sign that he liked her present. He walked to the windowsill and put the fertilizer packet next to his watering can that hadn't moved for seven years at least, since he just stuck his plant under the faucet to give it water, the lazy way. The Kakashi way of life.

"And the instant coffee?" He asked.

"You're always mooching coffee off of Naruto and me... so when I was taking care of Mr. Ukki I decided to return the favor," Sakura said, with a dramatic shudder, "Your coffee tastes like it's older than I am."

Kakashi's right eyebrow lifted slightly when he was amused, Sakura noticed. "It probably is," He said, scratching at his hairline in embarrassment.

"So I got you the kind I get since you seem to like it," She elbowed him lightly.

"And the shampoo, was just a hint, right?" Kakashi asked, grinning beneath his mask.

"That one was actually a present for Pakkun," She laughed. "Since he and I used to share the same shampoo."

"Oh, and not any more? Pakkun will be offended." Kakashi asked.

"It's all your fault too!" Sakura giggled, smacking him lightly on the arm. "You disturbed me so throughly I had to go out and buy a new shampoo the very next day."

Kakashi got a thoughtful look on his face. Silently, he drew in towards Sakura and lifted a piece of her hair, inhaling the scent.

Her eyes widened and she stopped, god did he smell good. Exactly how she had imagined him to smell. The cold from the chilly apartment instantly dissipated, and Sakura felt warm. Like she'd never felt the cold before.

Kakashi stepped back, and tousled her hair. "I think I like Pakkun's better," He said, attempting to get a rise out of her.

She blinked. "Umm... oh," She smacked him lightly and brightened, getting ready to tease him back.

"Soo... do I get my present now Kakashi-sensei?" She asked, batting her eyelashes up at him.

Kakashi cringed, thinking quickly. Sakura laughed at his discomfort, patting him on the arm. "It's okay Kakashi-sensei. You don't have to get me a present, I didn't expect you to," She smiled, giving him a small hug and walking to her coat.

She had hoped that maybe this year, he had remembered. But it was okay that he didn't. That was just Kakashi. He wasn't-

"Wait, Sakura! I do have something for you," He said, and she turned, her eyes unexpectedly filled with tears.

"Close your eyes and put your hands out," Kakashi said.

He reached into his kunai pouch, pulling something out. Then, he handed the present over to Sakura, closing her hands around the present.

Her eyes popped open and she opened her hands. Bells. She looked up at Kakashi, and the tears fell. She hugged him tightly as Kakashi stood with wide eyes before putting his arms around her.

She pulled away. "Well um, thank you. Kakashi-sensei. For the present. It's... it's really nice," She smiled a big smile up at him.

He scratched his neck and smiled back. "Well, I heard you were getting students now that you're a jounin, so I figured..."

"That I'd want to be as mean to my students as you were?" She grinned up at him, "Oh hell yes."

Sakura glanced at the clock and cringed. "Soo... are you going to the Hyuuga's party?" She asked.

"Nope," He replied.

She sighed. "Are you going to do anything for Christmas?"

"Nope," He said. At her frown, he ruffled her hair. "Go have fun and drink spiked eggnog. I'm a boring old man who wants to spend Christmas alone."

She nodded, convincing herself that he was right. "Alright, goodnight and Merry Christmas sensei." She said, exiting his door while wrapping her deep red scarf around her neck, the Haruno white circle hanging to her side.

"Merry Christmas, Sakura."

The wood door closed with a bang, and internally, Kakashi slumped.

Sakura had a tendency to do that to people he figured, and she didn't even realize it. She'd burst into people's lives like sunshine on a Saturday morning. Not necessarily wanted, but still too bright to be ignored for long.

And when she left, you felt kind of lost. Like the light bulb had just gone out.

Sakura had bought him possibly the best gifts he could have gotten. The stuff that was cheap, but he was too lazy to buy, or would keep around until he no longer could... like the coffee. He was kind of a cheap-ass that way, as Genma would put it.

He was a bit worried for her health that she'd drunk that coffee. He'd gotten it as an apartment warming gift... and it hadn't moved since. Which made it about... 20 years old, if he guessed it right.

Kakashi settled in to the snowy, lonely Christmas Eve night, already missing the light from Sakura. The warmth when she smiled, when she hugged him...

Perhaps arousal too. He couldn't deny that Sakura was wearing an outfit that was a cleaner version of something from Icha Icha. The skintight dark red V-shaped sweater with cleavage just aching to burst through the top?

She might be his student, but she certainly didn't look like one. And now that she was on the same rank as him, they were colleagues, not teacher and student.

That didn't mean checking out her ass was _acceptable_ by far, but it did mean it was _better_.

And wearing that seductive perfume of vanilla and shampoo of pomegranates, she was like a fruit just asking to be tasted. Knowing that Genma was going to be at the Hyuuga party, knowing that Sakura had a literally killer right hook and a dislike of perverts (that right there ruled out anything happening between them) he felt safer.

Even if the eggnog was going to be spiked with good old Southern Comfort.

Maybe, he thought, I should go to that party after all. Then he sighed, dismissing the idea. Sakura was a big girl, she could take care of herself.

So why did he feel the need to protect her? Spiking his own eggnog seemed like the best solution to his discomfort. But... that would require running to the store to get alcohol... and eggnog.

Kakashi flopped on the couch with a sigh.

Yeah, that wouldn't be happening tonight. He cast a look outside to the fiercely blowing, quickly falling snow. It seemed Konoha was in for a pretty good storm.

Sakura approached the door to the completely clear entrance way to the Hyuuga mansion quickly. She didn't want to waste too much chakra on staying warm when she could always use it to quickly metabolize alcohol later. She'd gotten it down to 12 seconds flat last time.

She knew that this party was supposed to be "the party of the year" and a huge deal, but... she still felt bad about leaving Kakashi alone on a holiday you were supposed to spend with friends and family. She'd just left him there, alone in his apartment with only his porn for company and an empty refrigerator.

Hinata opened the door with a shy smile and welcomed her in. "The food is on the right, the drinks are on the left, presents in the back and coats right there." She said pointing things out helpfully, before moving back to smile at Naruto as he talked at her.

Sakura surveyed the room. Her friends and co-workers were everywhere, it seemed as if the entire town had shown up. Sakura set her present down on the present table and walked to the wall, where she leaned.

She hadn't yet taken her coat off.

Sitting in Kakashi's apartment, keeping him company, staying warm with hot chocolate and tea, maybe watching a Christmas special while making fun of his porn, roaring fire, mistletoes... So maybe not the mistletoes. But not a drunkfest that would leave her hungover on Christmas.

Dear god she sounded old.

Sakura quickly looked around, then sped to the door, yelling a quick "I left my gas on!" to Naruto, who wanted to know why she was acting like an old lady and leaving so early.

If Naruto wasn't sucked into his "conversation" with Hinata, or had been observant at all this last year, he would've known Sakura never had any time at home, much less to cook a homemade meal... with her _electric _stove.

However, the excuse worked, so it wasn't as if she was going to complain about it.

She laughed to herself, her spirits much higher, trodding through the snow back to Kakashi's apartment. The snow was blowing hard and the air felt like it was freezing her lungs and her nose felt like it was about to fall off despite her coat being buttoned all the way up. She pushed just a teeny bit of chakra around her system and felt an instant flood of warmth.

That was better.

It wasn't until she got to Kakashi's door and was about to knock that she thought about whether he'd be okay with her hanging out on Christmas Eve with him. Maybe he had other plans later, or just wanted to spend it alone.

Before she could decide whether to go home or not, Kakashi opened the door, leaning against it, with a smile beneath his mask. She hoped that meant it was okay that she had come back over, even after she had left the first time.

"Miss me already?" He asked. She blushed, thinking about her daydreams during the Hyuuga mansion party.

Part of her screamed to say _yes sensei, I missed you, and your porn, and your smile, and the way you laugh... _She didn't think that'd go over too well though.

She smacked at him with the fringe of her scarf and walked through the door he held open for her, pulling her tea materials out of her bag and setting them on his counter.

"I don't want you being alone on Christmas, so I'm going to make tea and you're going to sit there and look happy about it," She said, grinning up at him and pointing at his couch.

He pulled himself up onto the counter lithely, right next to the materials for the tea.

"I think I'll just sit here," He said, eying his couch. She didn't see what was so wrong with it, sure the couch was a little shabby, but it wasn't as if it was an antique floral pattern or something. When he saw her questioning look he said, "Pakkun gets crabby if I wake him up."

Sakura peeked over the couch to see a fairly cute and sad looking pug running in his sleep on the couch. It was so cute! "He's... endearing," she said, smiling at Kakashi. _Like owner, like dog._

She blushed at the thought, beginning to work on her tea. She reached into her bag to pull out the cinnamon sticks, the oranges, honey, and the dried rusebuds.

"You don't happen to have a vegetable peeler do you?" She asked him. She hadn't expected to need the supplies to pare the zest from the orange, because she knew Hinata would have them. But she wasn't at the Hyuuga party anymore.

"No..." Kakashi said, grinning. What did she expect?

"Or, a paring knife?" She asked.

"Is that one of the little sharp ones?" When she nodded, he said, "Well, you can check the second drawer on your left but..."

Sakura quickly opened the drawer and rifled through its contents. "Nope," She said, "No paring knife."

She then approached Kakashi, looking up at them. Then she put her hand into is side holster and pulling out a kunai. "Thanks," She said, then turned with a grin back to her work separating the zest from the orange.

She left the oranges on the counter, forgotten, moving on to her next task. "Do you have mugs I could use?" She assumed he didn't have tea cups, no man in Konoha did, except for Neji, and he had to for formal settings and things.

He reached above her, still sitting, and grabbed two mismatching mugs from a overhead cabinet. She inhaled as he did so, enjoying the smell of him. "Here you go," he said, setting the mugs on the counter.

"Thank you," She said before placing a cinnamon stick in each and grabbing two teaspoons from his drawer. Her arm brushed Kakashi's as she filled the two teaspoons with honey then set them both in the separate mugs. He was warm, and her arm wanted to stay right where it was. Too bad for her arm, and for her, Kakashi would probably object to that.

She dropped three rosebuds in each before turning to Kakashi to ask him if he could tell her where the pots where.

When she turned, she saw Kakashi eating the leftover fruit piece by piece, his mask down. Her eyes widened as she took him in. Naruto and Sasuke were wrong. No buckteeth, no harelip, no huge lips... just a man. And a handsome one at that.

She knew she was staring, but she couldn't look away. When Kakashi lifted his head she got the full force of his looks, blushing from head to toe. She forced herself to look away, to look at the wall and cabinetry to the side of them.

"Could you tell me where the pots are Kakashi-_sensei_?" She asked, concentrating on the texture of the wall. She had hoped placing emphasis on his prolific would make her stop blushing so damn hard, but that didn't work. Just concentrate on the wall. The regular bumpy Konoha surface, nothing special, not when she could be looking at Kakashi at least.

Oh, stop thinking about him! She told herself, then she dared to look back at him.

"Sure, I'll get one for you Sakura," He said it in a business-like manner and Sakura cringed. He was about to pull up his mask, but Sakura reached up and held it in place.

"Please... Kakashi?"

Jade eyes met onyx and the world stopped turning. The snow stopped blowing, Sakura's heart stopped beating. Sakura let her arm slowly fall to her side.

Kakashi looked down at his orange, whispering "Last piece." He held the small piece to her lips, and her heart turned over. She took it softly from his hands, pink lips grasping the orange. Then he pulled it away, putting it in his own mouth with a grin.

He jumped down from the counter to get Sakura's pot for her, but Sakura stopped him, her hand resting on his shoulder lightly. Just enough to prevent him from going.

"Don't I at least get a taste?" She asked with an allure Kakashi hadn't known she possessed. She didn't even know why she asked him. He turned back to her and leaned down, pressing his lips to hers.

She melted, her skin melding to his in just the perfect way. His tongue pressed for entrance and she granted it, opening her lips to his exploration. And she _could _taste oranges, but as his tongue slid over hers, that's the last thing she cared about.

When he pulled away it was like she was missing a limb, and she felt a great urge to pull him back to her. She didn't, and he walked slowly to the cabinet where his pots were, pulled one out, and filled it with water, setting it on the stove.

She stared at him, realizing the implications of what they had started. If it ever went past this room... the rumors that would start... But she _wanted_ it to go past this room.

Kakashi turned off the stove and turned to her, grabbing her and holding her to him. "Sakura..." And that was all that needed to be said.

They spent the rest of the night in long kisses and embraces, wishing a Merry Christmas to each other when the Konoha bells hit midnight. They asked questions about each other, Sakura finally figuring out some of the elusive Hatake Kakashi, copy ninja.

And when the night was done, Sakura fell asleep, her head on Kakashi's shoulder. He didn't mind.

And after the sun had risen on white Konoha the next morning, Kakashi woke to Sakura's kiss from his arms.

They had laughed at the Genins and their teachers, all ordered outside to begin the process of shoveling the older areas of Konoha, the ones without the fire chakra infused in the cement to clear paths during winter.

Sakura waved to Shikamaru when he came by with his students, slouching against Kakashi's apartment building's fence. Sakura knew Shikamaru would tell Temari, Temari would tell Tenten, Tenten would tell Hinata, and Ino would force it out of Hinata. It would be all over Konoha by the morning, and both were perfectly okay with that.

They'd decided, they wouldn't hide it from anyone, and they'd give it a good shot. Another thing they'd decided was that Sakura's tea tasted horrible, no matter what Hinata might say about it, as they dumped it down Kakashi's sink.

And that Kakashi's porn actually did have some plot, much to Sakura's surprise. Not that she'd ever admit it, but she actually thought it was _good_.

And waking up to Sakura curling into him wasn't something Kakashi would mind happening more often.

**Three Years Later...**

The tree sparkled in the corner of Kakashi and Sakura's new apartment, the fire in front of them keeping them warm on a night so like two, or maybe it was three, years before. The cold didn't touch them, but the snow was blowing harshly against the window panes, as if determined to knock the windows out with Clark Kent-like force.

She looked up to check whether Kakashi was asleep or not, and seeing that he was, she put his present under the tree. Then she opened the curtain on the window to see how the streets were, glad her students were already chuunin so she wouldn't be assigned to shovel duty... again. It looked like they would be out there shoveling first thing in the morning.

When warm arms wrapped around her, she jumped a little, side-effect of the job. "I didn't hear you get up," she whispered.

"Hm..." he said into her neck, crossing his arms around her waist. He pressed his lips to her neck and smiled.

She felt a familiar stirring as he said, "I had the oddest dream, Sakura." While his arms moved from their crossed position at her waist and moved downwards just a tad.

"Hmm... and what was it?"

"Well, I was Santa for some reason. And there was this girl, she was really cute, who just kept trying to sit on my lap! And she kept asking about my jingle bells," he smiled and slid his hands further, one hand landing on her butt. "You really shouldn't talk to strange old men in red suits, Sakura."

He grabbed her butt before withdrawing a few feet behind her. "But do I still get to sit on Santa's lap?" she asked.

"Only if you ask him pretty-please," Kakashi said, grinning at her with a perverted (oh she knew the look by now) twinkle in his eye.

She grabbed his hand, pulling him into the bedroom. She pushed him down onto their bed, then climbed on top of him, her knees on either side of his abdomen.

He wrapped his arms around her back, effectively trapping her. "I think that will definitely get you put on the naughty list," he said.

She leaned down, her lips ghosting his before trailing slowly down his jaw. "What if I want to be on the naughty list?" she said, her breath on his neck, her voice low in his ear. She continued kissing down his neck, stopping at his long-sleeve.

She reached to his waist, pulling the long-sleeve shirt up at the bottom and pulling it off him after he lifted his hands over his head.

She kissed down his chest and proceeded to strip him.

**A/N: Happy Holidays! Hope you all have a safe, fun and kakasaku time. Reviews appreciated :)**

**Tee hee Sakura found Kakashi's jingle bells.**


End file.
